Hot Tub Time Machine **1/2

Well after the success of the “Hangover” it is not surprising that we are getting a series of comedies about middle aged guys who get in to frat style trouble with booze and girls. It is inevitable when a movie make that kind of money. First up is “Hot Tub Time Machine”, which has a few laughs but is mostly pretty stupid.

Now don’t get me wrong. I was in to the setup. Four down on their luck guys decide to head up to a ski lodge that they frequented in their youth. When they get there they find that the town is run down and the lodge itself is weathered and deserted.

They decide to make the best of it and starting drinking in the hot tub, which turns out to be a time machine that transports them back to 1986. Not only are they sent back in time but they are sent to a specific night that had certain events that defined each of their lives. The lead up to this is kind of flimsy as we get a brief glimpse of their current problems, then sent right to the time that.

No matter, I don’t always need deep characters and a solid story as long as there are lots of laughs and there are a few. I especially liked the scenes involving Crispin Glover as the one armed bell boy. But the laughs are few and far between.

John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry are fair talented at what they do but they are not really given much material here to work with. Rob Corddry in particular is given a character that uses profanity not as a character trait but just to deliberately get an R rating.

I would not write this movie off completely. I rented it and it would work with a group of friends but “The Hangover” it is not.